If you give a child pencil, paint, poster paint, clay, you offer him an opportunity which few children could resist easily. If you offer the same kind of materials to a dog, it would be an imposition that would probably create a great deal of anxiety that you would have to overcome during the session. On the other hand, if you ask a child who might still be locked in a very schematic vision of the world, of the world, which very specific configurations that stand for specific things, to look at the scribble and find configurations in the scribble, he might be quite at sea and unable to use this opportunity well.
So therefore you really need a different procedure if you work with children. We did not focus much on the procedure such as it is, does not focus so much on the projective propensities of drawing. And this is because we do not want to duplicate that which does psychologist with his house three-person test or other tests can do as well, we rather focus on what the art material itself elicits in a child.
Now drawing material, the line itself is a line. tends to elicit controlled intellectual behavior, often there is a stereotype which the child will present you with. When you offer clay, it is often first perceived as play material and there might be a regression to certain playful behavior such as making foods, but often then a second stage in which there is a good deal of integration, the material allows things that fall apart.
come stick together again and if a child can integrate at all he's liable to do it when he gets the clay. Paint tends to raise the emotional key on which anything happens and you see a good deal of the affective temperament of a child sometimes you get particularly interesting clues when a child paints things that he is made in clay for then you get both the capacity for integration and the affective meaning of various parts of the structure the child has made. You didn't get that in this case. Well, look, we've got some paper and pencil and we have magic markers, right?
And we have paint and we have clay. And you can use it all. What's that?
That ain't supposed to paint. Now I thought maybe you want to first draw something so we just see how you like to draw. And then you have a choice. You can use the paint, I can use the clay.
Okay. You can use a pencil. Do you want to draw like a person maybe? Do you like to draw people? The best thing to make is a rocket.
The best thing to make is a rocket? Yeah. Well, then make me a good rocket if that's what you like to do. All right.
Right arm, right arm. You must be drawing that many times because you're so good at it. You draw that often, this picture?
That's fine. Spotlight. Just something's gonna happen soon, what? It's gonna go off, where's it gonna go?
To the moon? In our case, we saw in the beginning a very well thought out, well practiced stereotype. One infantile, more childlike component, that was the sun and the moon. The sun is shining. And you're smiling at all that.
That's where it's going to go to, huh? You think the sun is kind of pleased that somebody's going up to the moon? Well, that's a beautiful picture, Rodney.
You want to sign it? Find your name so we won't forget it's yours. Now you have a choice. You put either try the paint or you try the clay. Whatever you want to do first.
Now what would you, you want to do both? What do you want to do first? You want to paint the picture?
You can paint the picture with those paints. Or you can use a lump of clay and you can make something out of clay. You'll work with either of those things. Well, what do you want to use first today?
You have plenty of time. You can even do both. But I see you're very careful working on the clay.
Yes. Okay. Then we'll put the paint out of the way. And if you make something out of clay, you might even paint it afterwards, you know?
So, you strong? Can you move that clay over? Oops!
Now I better pull it. You're going to tear it like that with both hands. Wow!
Okay, now how much of it do you want? I think you will have to get up and take something out of there if you want it. And let me still stretch out your sleeves.
It's not hard at all. So that you won't come home dirty. Really, show me your strength. not full heart. You're gonna get a whole lot of clay out of there.
Sit. Good. And that clay can do many things, right?
It can make an animal, or a person, or anything, right? You might also ask ourselves how did he perceive the art therapy? Was it an enemy?
Was it a friend? Was it a personal provider of materials? Was he oblivious or was it an audience? In our case, I think...
I was mostly the supplier of material. At a few moments, I was somebody who could instruct without intruding. And in the end, I did become audience. That is, he elicited admiration. and expected it.
When the clay was given, there was no regression at all, but a very intensive building where he made himself the sneaker and did them very well and did not stop until he had made what he set out to do. A shoe, no? A shoe? Huh?
What is it? Snickers. Huh? Snickers? Well I thought something you wear on your feet it must be, right?
Something...sneakers, right? I have to get some feet into those sneakers maybe. Hmm?
What about the feet? Do you want to wait until it's dry? This stuff will dry, yeah. Good. Just try to see that they don't fall, cave in there.
You know what you could do? Put a little bit of paper in there. See what you can do so they won't kind of cave in? What are they?
What? News? Are they magic?
Are they going to be able to do special things? Hmm? Yeah. If you want them to have a different color than what they are, you could paint. You could paint a design on them.
Huh? Huh? They should be brown.
Okay, then we leave them brown. You want to put anything on them like the shoelaces or... You want to leave them brown? Okay. How would that suit you?
Hmm? Don't get out of your way. D'you know?
That is yellow too. That's yellow too. You know why I put two yellows?
Why? There's one color missing. Do you know which one?
If you wanted to paint grass, you would have to color. Brown. Brown is missing.
That's right. Two colors is missing. Brown and another color.
Because this is, there's nothing in there. Green, green, right. Now there's a way of making them.
Do you know how to make green? No. No? Alright, then I'm going to show you a little trick. Take a brush and dip it in the blue and then dip it in the yellow and stir.
See what you get. Me? You. Good. Make a little experiment.
I'll stir it. Yeah? Stir this and see what color you get. You want a darker green, you can use more blue. That and you can use that yellow there.
Put some more in there. Right? So, now you have everything painted.
In using paint, the child's controller gets more excited. He had quite some pleasures in learning how to mix paint, but because he apparently had to keep his controls very tight, his imagery was impoverished, and all he could do with the paint is make so many stripes. You can also stir that up and see what that gets. Get a lighter orange there, right?
Done! Well, you worked on... you did a lot of work. Drawing, a picture, a drawing, and two sneakers. Two pairs of sneakers.
A pair of sneakers, right? That's a lot of work. And you learned to make many different colors, right? How many colors did you learn to make? You mean you count all the colors you put on there, right?
Ten different colors on there, some of them that went... Now watch out there, because if you pick it up now, see it starts running. And then, you had it so nice and neat.
You have to let it, leave it here, let it dry, and next time you have to ask your social worker, whoever came with you, your caseworker, pick it up for you. But you see what we can do? We can fix it, see?
Hey, there we are. Alright, let's get a new piece. You want to do that? Here, pick it up there. And pour on.
You think you'd like to do more painting and more work with clay? Another time? Or don't you know?
I don't know. You don't know? There we are. Okay, we better leave it like this and won't lift it up now because there'll be another mess. And I think you could wash your hands now.
And I thank you very much for working so hard. And I kind of think, now you learn to paint, to use so many colors, maybe someday you want to paint a big picture like this one here, all in colors. Would you like to do that?
You don't know.